Marlies Take Game One of Home-and-Home with Amerks

Game Recap:

The Marlies visited the Rochester Americans for the third time this season Friday night looking to pick their first win in their six-game season series against the Amerks.

The goaltenders were the story in the opening frame as both teams exchanged some close chances but were held off the scoresheet.

The flood gates opened in the second as the Marlies scored three goals on seven shots to jump out to a comfortable lead. Pierre Engvall opened the scoring at 6:18 of the second, finishing off a nice passing play from Sam Gagner and Josh Jooris. Two minutes later, the home team evened the score with a power play goal from Alex Nylander. Shortly after the tying goal, Eamon McAdam came up with a huge toe save on Wayne Simpson to keep the Amerks from taking the lead. At 15:29, the Marlies capitalized on a power play opportunity as Mason Marchment fired a one-timer past Scott Wedgewood to restore the Marlies lead. Carl Grundstrom and Michael Carcone assisted on Marchment’s 10th of the season. Late in the frame, Carl Grundstrom fired a rocket past Wedgewood to give the Marlies a two-goal cushion heading into the second intermission.

The Marlies added two goals in the final frame, the first from Michael Carcone at 3:14. Dmytro Timashov and Frank Corrado assisted on Carcone’s 11th of the season. At 12:16, Stefan LeBlanc connected with a wide-open Jeremy Bracco who snapped a shot top corner, beating Wedgewood to make it 5-1 for the Marlies.

Eamon McAdam picked up his ninth win of the season with a 29-save effort. Jordan Subban and Sam Gagner each picked up two assists while Carl Grundstrom and Michael Carcone each tallied a goal and an assist.

The Marlies will head back home for part two of their home and home with the Americans tomorrow at 4:00 PM at Coca-Cola Coliseum.

Pierre Engvall opened the scoring at6:18 of the second period. This is his second consecutive game with a goal (2). Engvall has 15 points (9 goals, 6 assists) through 34 games this season.

Mason Marchment scored the game-winning goal on the power play at 15:29 of the second period. This was Marchment’s third power play goal of the season.

Carl Grundstrom scored at 18:11 of the second period and earlier added the primary assist on Marchment’s power play goal. Grundstrom has scored a goal in consecutive games, registering three points (2 goals, 1 assist) through two games. Toronto is 8-0-0-1 when Grundstrom scores a goal.

Michael Carcone scored at 3:14 of the third period and earlier picked up the secondary assist on Marchment’s second period power play goal. Carcone has seven points (5 goals, 2 assists) in 13 games with Toronto.

Jeremy Bracco scored his eighth goal of the season at 12:16 of the third period. Bracco has 10 points (1 goal, 9 assists) in his last six games.

Josh Jooris recorded the primary assist on Engvall’s second period goal. Jooris has 11 points (6 goals, 5 assists) in 38 games this season.

Sam Gagner registered the secondary assist on Engvall’s goal and the primary assist on Grundstrom’s goal, both in the second period. Gagner has nine points (2 goals, 7 assists) in his last seven games.

Jordan Subban had the secondary assists on Grundstrom’s second period goal and Bracco’s third period goal.

Dmytro Timashov picked up the primary assist on Carcone’s third period goal. Timashov has seven assists in his last seven games.

Frank Corrado recorded the secondary assist on Carcone’s third period goal. Corrado has four points (1 goal, 3 assists) through 26 games this season.

Stefan LeBlanc registered the primary assist on Bracco’s third period goal.

Eamon McAdam stopped 29 of 30 shots he faced. McAdam is now 9-4-2-1 on the season with a .898 Save Percentage and a 2.81 Goals Against Average.

OF NOTE…

The Marlies are 10-5-1-2 on the road and have outscored their opponents 84-65.

Toronto went 3-for-4 on the penalty kill and 1-for-4 on the power play. On the road, the Marlies are first in the AHL in power play goals scored (25) and second in the AHL on the power play (29.4%).

Rochester had a 30-22 edge in shots in all situations. Sam Gagner, Mason Marchment and Chris Mueller led the Marlies with three shots on goal.

The Marlies are 14-11-3-2 against North Division opponents and are 1-1-0-1 against the Rochester Americans.

Toronto is playing eight games split evenly between home and the road over 16 days from December 28 to January 12. Through seven games, the Marlies are currently 5-2-0-0 and have outscored their opponents 28-20. Through this span, they will face the Rochester Americans three times, the Charlotte Checkers twice as well as the Syracuse Crunch, Binghamton Devils and the Utica Comets.

REGULAR SEASON LEADERS

Goals: C. Mueller (19)

Assists: J. Bracco (29)*

Points: C. Mueller (39)

PPG: C. Mueller (9)

Shots: S. Gagner (102)

+/-: C. Grundstrom (+9)

PIMS: M. Marchment,S. Oleksy (51)

*Indicates AHL-leading

RECORD WHEN…

Toronto is 16-4-1-0 when scoring first in the game.

The Marlies are 13-1-1-0 when leading after the first period and 13-0-1-0 when leading after the second period.

Toronto is 6-6-1-1 when outshot by their opponent.

The Marlies are 6-3-1-2 in Friday games and are 4-1-0-0 in January.

CURRENT POINT STREAKS

Jeremy Bracco has points (1-3-4) in two consecutive games.

Pierre Engvall has goals (2) in two consecutive games.

Carl Grundstrom has points (2-1-3) in two consecutive games.

Josh Jooris has assists (2) in two consecutive games.

Trevor Moore has goals (2) in his last two games.

Dmytro Timashov has assists (2) in two consecutive games.

MARLIES UPDATES

Andreas Borgman (concussion) did not dress for tonight’s game. He left Toronto’s game on December 19 against Binghamton and did not return.

Timothy Liljegren (ankle) did not dress for tonight’s game. He is week-to-week with a high ankle sprain.

Steve Oleksy (head)did not dress for tonight’s game. He left Toronto’s game on January 5 against Syracuse and did not return.

Rasmus Sandin (elbow sprain) did not dress for tonight’s game following an injury sustained during the World Juniors.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS

January 11: Loaned forward Gabriel Gagné from Toronto (NHL).

January 11: Traded forward Morgan Klimchuk to Ottawa (NHL).

January 11: Returned goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo on loan from Toronto (NHL).

January 6: Returned goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo on loan from Toronto (NHL).

POSTGAME QUOTES

HEAD COACH SHELDON KEEFE

On the home-and-home series against Rochester:
I think it is important that we recognize that getting this win is good but we have a very motivated team coming right back and it’s a very good team. I’m sure they’ll be looking at it, that they have a couple chances in the early part of the game (that) if it goes their way, it’s a very different hockey game. We want to clean some of those things up ourselves but we’ll focus on a lot of the good things that we did to maintain control of the game throughout and to finish our chances and whatnot. We want to be focused for tomorrow but obviously there’s a lot of good things to take from this game.

On whether the team is hitting its stride:
It’s getting there. That third period, there’s a lot we could take out of it, both positive and negative. Early on, I thought we forced the issue a little bit and it opened the game up and afterwards we settled it down pretty good. The guys are starting to feel it, we’re making progress here for sure. We feel like there’s room for improvement which is a very positive thing for our group. We’ve had guys that have come in the lineup that have done a real good job but we’re still missing important people with our team. To be able to have the results that we’ve had is a credit to the guys that have been playing every day.

Game Preview:

The Marlies (18-14-3-2) are back in action tonight for the first half of a home and home against the division leading Rochester Americans (22-12-2-0). Coming off a 6-3 win over the Utica Comets on Wednesday, the Marlies will look to make it two in a row while the Amerks will be looking to bounce back from a 2-1 loss to Laval on January 5.

These North Division rivals have met twice in Rochester this season, with home ice proving to be beneficial for the Amerks as they lead the series 2-0. In their first meeting of the season, the Marlies forced overtime after a late goal from Sam Gagner but dropped a shootout decision in a 5-4 final. On December 28, the Marlies suffered a 5-1 loss when they visited the Amerks for the second time this season. Coming into tonight’s game, the Marlies have won four of their previous five contests while the Amerks have won three of their last five. The Marlies have scored 21 goals in their previous five contests and are first in the division and third in the league in goals scored with 132.

Players to Watch: Defenceman Zach Redmond and left-wing Victor Olofsson lead the Amerks with 30 points each. After recording tallying three assists in Wednesday’s game, Jeremy Bracco now leads the league in assists with 29. Calle Rosen is fifth amongst AHL defenceman in scoring with 26 points, and third in assists with 22.